If you look up Moondog on Wikipedia, you may share my astonishment that this wayward, eccentric New York street musician was allowed and even encouraged to make so many recordings back in the 1950s and â€˜60s, now being anthologised by the remarkable Honest Jons label. Any notion of the music industry as a corrupt and money-obsessed maelstrom is confounded by listening to Moondogâ€™s music â€“ who were those philanthropists who recorded him so often, what were they thinking? As to what was in his mind, itâ€™s impossible to guess, although it is reported that he was obsessed with Native Americans and their music.

The song you hear by Tonino Carotone is not the one I chose, whose lyric apparently means something improper, even vulgar. This album has been sitting on my shelf for years, but recently came back into the must-play pile after Manu Chao drew attention to it in the recent Radio Ping Pong on World on 3. Manu himself was involved in producing and playing on some tracks, but not this one. Tonino is a confusing character; he was actually Spanish but he pretended to be an Italian Gypsy/gangster.

Elena Ledda is probably the only current Sardinian singer widely acknowledged as being world-class. Having been enthralled when she recently featured in a remarkable showcase of Sardinian music at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, I went back to the title track of her album from about six years ago.

Dub Colossus.

Every month a panel of over 50 European world music DJs contribute their current top tens to co-ordinators Johannes Theurer and Tobias Maier in Berlin, who collate the list into a monthly top ten. Sometimes baffled by choices which can be so different from my own, I am occasionally gratified to find when we are of one accord, as with the album A Town Called Addis, a new interpretation of Ethiopian music by British producer Nick Page under his arresting alias, Dub Colossus.

Stan Nganga

The vast majority of records by African singers and musicians played in these programmes were actually produced in Europe, so that very little of the income actually goes back into the economies of the source countries. The Dutch NGO which operates under the name Up To You Too is a notable exception, financing studio equipment in Nairobi, Kenya, and training local engineers and producers to make music with the minimum of filtering through European sensibilities. Iâ€™m not quite sure how the whole process works, but artists who recently surfaced through this operation include the rapper Goreala and vocalist Stan Nganga. For the second week in a row, we feature a track from Stanâ€™s debut album.

Fabulous bit of Moondog there, Charlie. Thank you. As to what was in his mind: You might just as well ask what was in Sun Ra's mind, or Harry Partch, or maybe even Captain Beefheart... Completely original American musical eccentrics. Thank goodness for them. And isn't it great that they get recorded?

The "holy grail" of Moondog recordings may be the LP he recorded with Julie Andrews in the 1950s. Yes, that Julie Andrews. It's of children's songs and rhymes, and he did the percussive arrangements. She is said to have had some difficulties with the complex rhythms.

There is probably a copy of this album in the BBC Sound Library (there was a BBC radio prog about Moondog years back - I think narrated by Charles Shaar Murray - and some of it was played), but I wouldn't expect to hear it on a future WS show.

NormanD wrote:The "holy grail" of Moondog recordings may be the LP he recorded with Julie Andrews in the 1950s. Yes, that Julie Andrews. It's of children's songs and rhymes, and he did the percussive arrangements. She is said to have had some difficulties with the complex rhythms.